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Yes, so it’s been 4 days since I updated this blog. I have a great excuse though! Internet at sea is extremely sluggish and ridiculously expensive! So I opted to not connect at all and just wait till we get back to port when I can use my phone for an Internet connection. So, we are currently back in Florida, but the ship is about to sail away again in another couple of hours. I’m also doing everything on my iPad so it’s taking a bit longer to type. Apologies!

Here I am updating the blog while Todd’s on the phone working.

We opened the door to our room and low and behold……….the bags are still there! We stopped a bellhop in the hallway and asked if our room number was on his list of luggage pick up that morning. He looked, and of course we weren’t on there. So he put our room number down, took our tip, and assured us he would make sure our bags got on the ship. I am SO glad I double checked because being stuck on a ship with no belongings for a week would not have been good! I made Todd hike it back to the front desk with me so we can figure out what the heck happened. Of course, all they could do was apologize and told us that who ever checked us in should have put our room on “the list”. Whatever, I’m just glad we double checked! Let’s hurry up and get on the Disney ship so we can have some real service! Ugh!

We made our way down to the Disney’s Magical Express transportation center to catch the first shuttle to Port Canaveral. Finally, some friendly faces! We began boarding at 9:30am.

It was about a 40 minute ride to the cruise dock. As soon as the ship came into view I got really excited! She’s beautiful! We’ve been on the Magic and the Wonder, but this will be our first time on the Dream. I couldn’t wait to go exploring!

We were the first bus there (yes, I planned it that way) and the terminal was nearly empty! We got checked in within minutes and sat down and people watched. It was so great seeing all the kids expressions when Captain Mickey showed up in the terminal!

The ship coming into view!

Loading the bus

Entrance into the lobby. Just gorgeous! The crew officers dressed in white announces each family as they embark. Yes, all 3000+ passengers. It’s the Disney difference! We were announced as Mr. And Mrs. Hutchinson!

First onboard equals nearly empty ship! The Aquaduck hydro tube is fantastic!

Terminal

The day’s navigator…time to plan!

We arrived at MCO just after 11pm. We got our luggage and headed straight for the Hyatt so we could check in and get some shut eye before our cruise tomorrow! We informed the front desk staff who was checking us in that we were doing a Disney cruise the next morning and he handed us a sheet about what we were supposed to do with our luggage the next day in order to be sure they make it on to the ship!

So off to our room we schlepped. The room was nothing to get excited about, but the convenience of its location inside the airport was excellent. No shuttles! We drifted off to sleep woke up around 7:30 the next morning, put our Disney tags on our luggage and left them near the door inside the room, per the instructions. We headed over to breakfast when I started to get worried about the luggage making in tour stateroom on the ship as this was the first time we are using this service. So we decided to head back to our room to see if our luggage had been taken yet…

Gotta run, more to come soon!

We arrived at MSP just in time for dinner. Found a neat little pizza place where you can order on their iPads. Here’s Todd waiting for his wood-fired cheese pizza.

We are now on the leg of our trip on our way to Orlando! 3 more hours then we’ll be checking in to the Orlando airport Hyatt for a quick nights rest before heading to Port Canaveral in the morning. What’s great about staying at the Hyatt here is that they will take care of your bags for you if you are heading to one of Disney’s ships in the morning. You just leave your luggage in the room the morning of your departure, then they and Disney will make your luggage show up in your stateroom on the ship. We just hop on to the shuttle to port without having to drag any luggage around. So convenient!

While at the airport in Minneapolis we spied on Minnie at the Barkzone and found her doing this:

She looks quite at home 🙂

The frantic hours of errands, shopping, laundry, and packing are over. We are now at PDX on a delta flight that will soon be heading to Minneapolis so we can catch our connecting flight to Orlando! We should arrive at MCO around 11:15pm where we will be checking in to the MCO Hyatt for one night. Our first cruise on the Disney Dream is Sunday!

Here’s a picture of my Minnie Mouse inspired nails I had done yesterday. Cute, huh?

More to come soon!